A post on “General Discussion” reminded me that it was on this date in 1964 that Cassius Clay upset heavyweight champion Charles “Sonny” Liston in Miami Beach. It was one of the greatest heavyweight title fights in the history of boxing.
I pulled out one of my boxing scrapbooks from 1964, and have spent part of this snowy day reading the old newspaper and magazine articles from before and after that bout. Included is a four-page article that Clay wrote for “The Ring,” boxing's best magazine, for its pre-fight edition. “If I'm not ready, then nobody is,” wrote young Cassius. “Liston moves and thinks too slowly,” he explained in backing up his prediction to take Liston in out in eighth round.
Backing up a prediction in a magazine article is, of course, much easier than fighting Sonny Liston in the ring. It is hard for younger sports fans to understand how scary Liston was in that era. Think of the intimidation factors of the young George Foreman, and of the prime Iron Mike Tyson, squared. Boxing experts at the time debates if he was simply the greatest since Joe Louis, or perhaps the greatest heavyweight champion ever?
From reform schools and prison, Sonny Liston had learned to box. He was a national amateur champion at a time when amateur boxing was tougher than today. When he prepared for his pro debut, a top boxing promoter offered Rocky Marciano a huge purse to defend his title against Liston; Marciano opted to defend it once more – against light heavyweight champion Archie Moore – for a fraction of what he could have made fighting Liston. (Years later, when Marciano accompanied Howard Cosell to Liston's training camp, and the journalist suggested Rocky approach the hostile champion, Marciano responded, “Are you crazy?”)
Neither Floyd Patterson nor Ingemar Johansson were interested in fighting Liston. While these two fought their trilogy of title bouts, Liston was busy fighting five times per year. At that rate, he was able to keep his skills at their peek. However, when Patterson – then the first man to hold the title twice – decided to defend against Liston, several things happened.
First, Floyd's long-time trainer and mentor Cus D'Amato refused to work with the champion. Cus believed that not only would Sonny probably defeat Floyd, but that this would allow the mafia to control the title. Second, President Kennedy invited Patterson to the White House; in their meeting, the President, who knew about the mafia's role in professional boxing from his days in the Senate, discouraged Patterson from fighting Liston. And third, Liston was reducing the number of fights he had in the year leading up to his challenge for the title.
Liston destroyed Patterson in one round. The next year's re-match was a replay. The boxing community saw what at the time was a huge heavyweight in Liston, with good hand and foot speed, a powerful jab, and KO power in both his right-cross and left hook.
Cassius Clay had been a light heavyweight in the Rome Olympics. He had been decked by England's Henry Cooper, and almost upset by a blown up light heavyweight, Doug Jones, leading up to his fight with Liston. While the betting odds were 8-to-1, it is important to remember that these only reflect what the professional gamblers and Vegas thought. In the boxing community, the odds were a million to one.
Clay cut an album, “I Am The Greatest!” and had a hilarious meeting with a new musical group from England, called “The Beatles,” in his Miami training camp. These tactics drew a lot of media attention, but hardly endeared Clay to the tough old men of the boxing community.
Besides that, Clay had engaged in a campaign to harass the champion. He raised hell at a Vegas casino, until Liston got very close to him, and threatened to “rip (his) fucking tongue out, and stick it up (his) ass.” Clay also “visited” Liston's home at 2 am, again raising hell, until Liston came outside with a shotgun.
Years later, Muhammad Ali would admit that Charles “Sonny” Liston was the only opponent who ever really frightened him. Older readers will recall the mad scene at the morning weigh-in, when the commission doctor almost called the fight off. Even the great Sugar Ray Robinson, a member of Clay's camp, was concerned. Only three people around Clay understood what he was doing: Angelo Dundee, Drew “Bundini” Brown, and Malcolm X. Clay would later explain that he knew that as an ex-convict, the only thing that concerned Liston was a “crazy person.” So Clay did crazy.
That night, during the ring instructions, a funny thing happened. Liston was a big man, but he loomed much larger in people's minds. In fact, he wore several thick towels under his robe when entering the ring, to appear even larger. Yet the challenger, Cassius Clay, made a point of standing straight up, so that he looked down into Liston's eyes (Dundee encouraged this).
The fight was intense. Many people “remember” Cassius winning “easily.” That didn't happen. He won convincingly, but both he and Dundee would say, in later years, that Liston hurt him more than anyone else ever would. In the fifth round, Liston took advantage of some “medicine” that went from his gloves into Clay's eyes in the 4th round, and landed vicious body shots. (I doubt that any other fighter in history would have been on their feet after taking those shots.)
Liston quit on his stool at the bell for the seventh round. Clay had hurt him badly in round six. More, Liston had suffered a serious injury to his left shoulder earlier in the fight. Both at the time, and years later, some believed that Liston “faked” the injury. He did not. I'm looking at photos from the three-and-one-half hours he spent in a hospital after the fight, having the torn muscle treated. The doctors who treated him that night had no connection to boxing per say, and none to Liston; they agreed hat he could not extend the left arm, and had X-rays showing the very real damage.
I believe that three events actually started the Decade of the 1960s: JFK being assassinated in Dallas; the Beatles coming to the USA; and Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali winning the Heavyweight Title. The day after this bout, the new champion told reporters that he was a member of the Nation of Islam. He was changing his name to Cassius X (“Muhammad Ali” came a bit later.) And the rest is history.